Fat Bobs Paintball Shop

Fat Bobs is the oldest paintball shop in the UK. Founded in 1996, we have been supplying and supporting players for longer than any other UK based paintball shop. We stock equipment from all of the major suppliers including Planet Eclipse, Dye, Valken, Tippmann and GI Sportz as well as many more. If you have any questions, or just fancy a chat, just give us a call on 01757 289322, or call into the shop. We are based in the centre of Yorkshire, in Selby and also own the Yorkshire Paintball Centre which holds a monthly walkon events on the last Sunday of every month. We also host the Halo Mill Proving Grounds Airsoft walkon on the first Sunday of every month.

Guns

Paintball guns fall generally into three different categories, these are Mechanical, Electro Mechanical and Electro Pneumatic.

Mechanical Guns

Mechanical guns tend to be the cheapest of all guns. They are generally called "Blowback" guns as they use a spring and sear mechanism to mechanically accellerate a heavy hammer to open the air valve. Some of the air is then used to fire the pellet and some is used to re cock the mechanism. (Spring forward, blow back). This mechanism is very very simple and as luck (and development) would have it, very reliable. Because of the simplicity of the design, there arn't that many working parts so the guns can be sold relatively cheaply. Blow back guns can run on either compressed air or Co2. Maintenance is generally a few drops of oil and cleaning. They are the ideal gun for the beginner as they are cheap, easy to maintain and won't break the bank.

Electro Mechanical Guns

Electro Mechanical guns are a step up from just mechanical. They are basically the same design as the mechanical marker but instead of your finger on the trigger physically tripping the sear, an electronic circuit board detects a trigger pull through a micro switch, this then sends a signal to a solenoid which trips the trigger sear for you. The benefit of this is that trigger pulls can be much faster (Think about clicking a computer mouse) and also modes can be programmed into the circuit board. Electro Mechanical markers can usually run on air or Co2.

Electro Pneumatic Guns

We are now talking about mid to high end guns. These guns work on a much lower operating pressure but still give the velocity of a mechanical or electro mechanical gun. Lower working perssure (Typically 80-120psi) means that much more brittle paintballs can be used without the worries or breaking balls in the barrel. The worlds top players will use Electro Pneumatic guns. When the electronic trigger is activated, an air solenoid is opened filling and firing the valve with a measured amount of air. This gives the benefit of allowing more brittle paint to be shot, but also gives accuracy through consistent velocity.

Goggles

When it comes to paintball goggles, it's really not about the price. Some very cheap goggles may fit your head much better than some goggles costing over £100. Lens quality is however very important, the good news is though that these days all goggle lenses are superb quality. Lenses do come in two different types though, single and dual pane (or thermal), that is single lens or double lens, a bit like double glazing.

So it's really down to comfort and style. You are always best coming into the shop to try on goggles, but the next best thing is to try a friends pair for size before ordering. It's a bit like buying shoes.

Which ever goggles you choose, you need to make sure that you wear them at all times whilst outside the safe area. During a game, the only part of your body that can be seriously injured is your eyes. You will find that any site that you visit will have very strict goggle rules in place. Try to keep your goggle lenses safe and free from scratches. The foam on the more expensive goggles is usually replacable too, so if you damage the foam or wear it out, don't worry, a replacement is only a phone call away.

A bit of a tip, next time you play, have a look at the goggles that the marshals are wearing. Marshals are usually the most experienced paintballers and they will have no doubt tried them all before settling for a particular style.

Remember also that if you are a particularly sweaty person you may still fog up the best thermal lens. If this is you then you may want to consider an electric fan which clips onto goggles and solves the problem completely.

Hoppers

There are three types of paintball hopper. These are gravity fed, agitated and force fed.

Gravity Fed Hoppers

Gravity fed is the type that you will have used in the past at any site. They literally are a plastic holder of paint with a feed neck. They do jam from time to time and the way to free a jam is simply to shake the hopper. There is a really good gravity hopper that perform like an agitated hopper, that if the Proto Primo hopper which has a very well designed shelf built into it to stop the weight of paintballs causing jams. Gravity fed hoppers tend to be very very cheap.

Agitator Hoppers

These hoppers have a paddle installed inside which is battery powered and usually connected to a sensing system, like eyes. When a jam is detected, the electronics start the paddle to turn which agitates the paintballs in the hopper and lets the hopper feed properly.

Force fed Hoppers

Agitator hoppers use an electric motor to turn a paddle, but the paintballs are still gravity fed. ie. the paintballs can only fall down the feed port at a certain speed, based on gravity. Force Fed hoppers work in a different way, Some are very sophisticated and cost well over £100. Paintballs are scooped up and placed under pressure onto a stack in the feed port, this way they can be fed into your gun faster than gravity. In fact, some hoppers like the Dye Rotor can feed at rates of up to 50 balls per second. If you are using any electronically fired gun, you would do yourself a favour by fitting a force fed hopper.

Clothing

Paintball clothing is actually pretty good. It's not like army surplus, it is actually designed for the sport of paintball. It's usually tougher than surplus clothing and it usually has padding in all of the right areas. Some of the best clothing is made by Planet Eclipse and Dye. Paintball clothing also includes things that you may not think about like arm and knee pads and gloves.

Paintballs and BB's

Paintballs are not all the same. The quality varies wildly between manufacturer but it doesn't just stop there. The way that you store them can also have a huge effect on the quality. After all, remember that paintballs are a food stuff and so should be treated as such. They should be kept at room temperature, during very cold days, keep your paint warm or they will become brittle. During very warm days, keep them cool or they can become bouncy and swell. Either way, it's not good. Airsoft BB's on the other hand, unlike paintballs only suffer from quality issues. We only sell the best Airsoft BB's so don't worry too much about which ones to buy. Of course airsoft BB's are not effected by temperature or moisture so there is no need to keep them warm or cool.

Pot Packs

Paintball pot packs are useful when you get a bit more into the sport and you tend to shoot more paint. Your hopper will typically hold around 200 paintballs so to take more out with you onto the field of play, you would use 100 or 140 shot pots. These are hard pots which protect the paint from damage as you dive about. The place to keep these pots is in a pot pack, that way you can get at them easily for fast refills. Pot packs are worn around the waist and the pots are inserted to the holders behind you. This way you can dive into cover without landing on them and they don't form a hard target in front of you where paintballs can easily burst taking you out of the game.

Air and Co2

There are two types of propellant for guns, Compressed Air and Co2. It's worth spending a bit of time just relaxing and finding out as much as possible about compressed air or co2 so that you can avoid making any mistakes. As a general rule, if it needs a battery, then you need compressed air. If it doesn't then Co2 may be ok, But as with all rules, this isn't 100%. If you are in doubt, just give us a call in the paintball shop on 01757 707701 and we will be able to talk you through.